Feeling Confident

20^th February – Board 24: Love All. Dealer West.

East has a difficult choice of bids after the hand on his right opens with a weak two but as always one has to try and foresee how the subsequent bidding might develop.

	North: S K Q 8 7 6 2 H J 9 6 3 D 2 C Q 8
West: S 5 4 3 H K Q 7 2 D Q 7 6 3 C K 9		East: S A H A 10 D A K 8 5 4 C 10 6 5 4 2
	South: S J 10 9 H 8 5 4 D J 10 9 C A J 7 3

West	North	East	South
No	2S	3D	3S
5D	End

Although it might look tempting to double the opening 2S I’m not sure that a 4H response would be very welcome. Instead I would go slowly by bidding diamonds and wait for developments, for I would be fairly confident that there would be some. After all there are still quite a lot of points allocated between West and South. For example if South bids 3S and that is passed round to the East hand it would be quite in order to bid 4C now. Or if West can bid 3H over a pass from South then a raise to 4H would be called for. As it happens both South and West will bid again and the latter will bid a practical 5D. With the ace of clubs well placed and the diamonds behaving 6D is secure but sometimes you have to strive for the best result possible, not the best possible result.